San Francisco Chinatown grew organically around Portsmouth Plaza, the city's
first public square and civic center. With the wealthy residential neighborhood
of Nob Hill to the south and the financial district to the north and east, Chinatown
was centrally located on valuable real estate, a fact that contributed to many
efforts to relocate the community or eradicate it all together. However, the
community remained at its original site, continuing to expand its borders in
all directions.

"Old" Chinatown, the enclave before 1906, was the subject of extensive
political debate for city politicians and officials who oftentimes deemed the
area an eyesore and a health hazard. True, its wooden buildings and tenement
houses were far from aesthetically pleasing  as photographs and artwork
from the period attest  but they were ironically a reflection of the rapid
growth San Francisco underwent during and shortly after the Gold Rush of 1849-1850.
Structures were built at an astonishing rate, the buildings of Chinatown among
them. And as was the case with explosive urban development, many ethnic denizens
were left with the out-of-date residential and business areas more privileged
residents left behind.

After the fire that followed the 1906 Earthquake reduced Chinatown to smoldering
ashes, there was a movement by the Reconstruction Committee to move the Chinese
to the outer reaches of the Richmond district, far away from its prime location
at the heart of the city. In a concerted effort to save their community from
being uprooted, Chinese leaders convinced municipal leaders and the neighborhoods
white landlords that the "New" Chinatown should be rebuilt in a distinctive
Oriental style that would attract more tourism and business, thereby boosting
San Francisco's economy as whole. The results were the familiar curved
eaves, colorful street lanterns, recessed balconies, and gilded facades that
we today instantly associate with Chinatown. Most importantly, the enclave was
rebuilt at its original locale.